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It never ends. The Catholic left determined to outdo and be as wrong and hard-headed as the Catholic right. The left excuse the abortion loving, contraception mandating Sebelius while the right celebrate the likes of the Ayn Rand loving Paul Ryan on economic balance & fairness. It staggers belief.

http://gentillylace.wordpress.com Gentillylace

Sean, the Catholic left is not monolithic, and I suspect that the Catholic right is not monolithic either. It is not fair to generalize about every Catholic liberal or Catholic conservative.

In most issues, I am to the left of the Democratic Party: I consider myself a democratic socialist/social democrat and support a single-payer health care system that does not pay for contraception or abortion. (I felt I had to leave the Democratic Socialists of America a couple of years ago because of their pro-choice beliefs.) My politics are consistent life: I oppose abortion, euthanasia, the death penalty and war, as well as non-traditional marriage.

Nevertheless, I am as angry and as shocked as any conservative that Georgetown chose Kathleen Sebelius to be commencement speaker. This is a deliberate provocation and it shall not pass. Obamacare would have been decent, in my opinion, without the HHS mandate: with it, it is poison. I refuse to vote for Romney, but for sure I will not vote for Obama either.

James

“My first experience as a Georgetown Law student was a walking tour of the House chamber with Father Drinan. Last year, one of the 1L orientation activities was a tour of the halls of Congress with the last Catholic priest elected to serve. Father Drinan took a group of us to the House floor and told us about his proudest legislative achievements in the very room in which they occurred. I think it speaks volumes about Father Drinan’s character and commitment to public service that he got involved in public office to spread the values of peace, equal treatment, and good will towards others.”

I thought I was being charitable by putting him in Purgatory. If you want to canonize him, feel free.

Dale Price

It presumes he will attain the beatific vision, which in the annals of uncharitable Catholic commentary, is pretty low on the list.

http://www.pavelspoetry.com Pavel

Personally I don’t put anyone anywhere in the afterlife. Who am I to do so?

Joseph

You must have thought Dante was a real jerk… the Church certainly didn’t.

http://coffeecatholic.wordpress.com/ M. Jordan Lichens

Just a word on Dante, he was a genius writer who wrote the landmark poem of Western Civilization. However, he was not making dogmatic pronouncements. For crying out loud, he put a saint in hell and Cato in purgatory.

Andy, Bad Person

However, he was not making dogmatic pronouncements.

And neither was James.

http://decentfilms.com SDG

No, but James was implying, however facetiously, that Fr. Drinian was making a pain in the ass of himself in purgatory. While Fr. Drinian, if he is in purgatory and much more if he is in heaven, might be the last to take umbrage at such a crack, it is reasonable to wonder whether such cracks are conducive to the charity we ought to bear for the Holy Souls in purgatory who can neither merit nor demerit. We may hope that Fr. Drinian, if he is in purgatory, is doing what he can there, namely pray for us on earth, and bearing that in mind it would be appropriate to pray for him.

James

I do pray for him, and if he is in Purgatory (I hope), I think he’s in good hands. I’m sure millions of slaughtered babies are also praying for him. And when his hands are cleansed of their blood, he’ll cease to be the stomach-turningly unpleasant “Father” that he is in my eyes.

Chris

Is LCWR the warm-up act?

B.E. Ward

I think the giant papier-mache puppets will be there to hand out the diplomas.

Woody Pfister

Having Kathleen Sebelius, a sponsor of late term, partial birth abortion speaking at Georgetown’s commencement is sure not “For the Greater Glory of God.” AMDG

Chris

Notre Dame and Georgetown are sort of like the collegiate Enoch and Elijah of the Culture of Death.

Jim Kennedy

“If I find fifty righteous people in the city of Sodom, I will spare the whole place for their sake. ” “A bruised reed he will not break, and a smoldering wick he will not snuff out, till he has brought justice through to victory.”

Joseph

Meh… Georgetown already went out of their way to cover up the Name of Our Lord so that it wouldn’t interfere with a speech from their true lord, Obama… nothing really surprises me about that anti-Catholic university.

James

Woody, it’s the “legacy” of Georgetown’s illustrious and celebrated Fr. Robert Drinan, S.J., one of the men chiefly responsible for the scandalous fact that most Catholic politicians in Washington support the “right” to slaughter innocent unborn children. Sebelius is one of his disciples.

Woody Pfister

Maybe Georgetown’s increasingly Muslim constituency will move it to an anti-abortion position.

http://confederatepapist.blogspot.com/ Confederate Papist

“Maybe Georgetown’s increasingly Muslim constituency will move it to an anti-abortion position.”

How’s that for irony?

Jim Kennedy

As a very faithful Catholic law student at Notre Dame, it really bothers me when Catholic pundits without any connection to Catholic universities (which admittedly have moved away from the church since the Land O’Lakes declaration, which was most certainly a far worse blow to Catholic identity at Catholic universities than the presence of O’bama here in 09, or Sebelius at GW) declare that these vital institutions are completely dead to orthodox Catholicism, and should be boarded up.

The administration at GW and ND are from the ‘spirit of Vatican II’ generation. It’s not my fault that the generations which preceded me in the faith did not believe and obey the pope and the bishops in Humanae Vitae or Ex Corde Ecclasiae. There is a renaissance of faith at least at Notre Dame. We need faithful Catholics to go to Georgetown and Notre Dame to keep the Catholic witness and bring these schools back to their roots in the heart of the church. I am immensely indebted to Professor Charles Rice here at Notre Dame for my own rebirth of faith, after a period of questioning and doubt that lasted for several years. Mary loves Notre Dame. If you haven’t been here, you just wouldn’t understand, but her presence is palpable here, a sanctity that I’ve only ever experienced at Assisi. We need faithful Catholics to man the posts at Catholic Universities, not to abandon them.

To abandon Georgetown because the administrators there are beholden to an earlier false hermeneutic of rupture is not Catholic. To abandon that which has good mixed with corruption is NOT Catholic, it’s protestant. Rather, we should remember the Lord’s admonishment to St. Francis, when the church was in crisis. “Rebuild my church” The Lord is calling my generation, the JPII generation, to rebuild his church; and this will certainly require rebuilding his universities.

Jim Kennedy

Lest anyone mistake my post for an Apoligia pro obama sebeliusque, I obviously have serious problems with those decisions. Specifically, because they are in specific disobedience to the “Catholics in Political Life” directive of the Bishops in 2004: “The Catholic community and Catholic institutions should not honor those who act in defiance of our fundamental moral principles. They should not be given awards, honors or platforms which would suggest support for their actions.”

Mark Shea

Fair enough. I just get tired of places like Georgetown making open war on the Faith.

Jim Kennedy

I am no fan of the disobedience of Notre Dame or Georgetown either. I think it’s disgusting in fact to invite Sebelius, when she has shown so thoroughly her disdain for the Bishops and faithful Catholics at Catholic institutions who object to paying for contraception.

And as I said, I don’t have much personal knowledge about Georgetown, but I do know that we’re fighting for the Truth here, and ultimately, Christ and his church will triumph over the works of the devil. I’m concerned about ‘throwing the baby out with the bathwater.’ If orthodox Catholics write off Notre Dame and Georgetown, then it’s a given that the liberals will be able to take control there, since there won’t be enough of those who are faithful and obedient to do anything else. I don’t think we should be afraid of these ‘false prophets in sheep’s clothing,’ rather we should ‘go forth to speak his word with great boldness,’ even in the face of our enemies. We are on the winning side, let’s claim the victory for Christ, by retaking these things consecrated to him in his name.

Kevin J

” If orthodox Catholics write off Notre Dame and Georgetown, then it’s a given that the liberals will be able to take control there, since there won’t be enough of those who are faithful and obedient to do anything else.”

Wouldn’t surprise me if scare tactics and trolling are part of the “liberals’” strategy.

1 . Do something jackassed, obscene or heretical to scare off faithful Catholics.

2. Fan the outrage.

3. Consolidate your own power.

4. Repeat until clean.

Ted Seeber

Jim, what are you doing at Notre Dame to change it? Is there anything that can be done, such as challenging the tenure of professors and the administration under Canon Law?

Jim Kennedy

There’s not much I can do as far as changing the administration. Part of the problem for law students in getting anything changed while in law school is that ultimately the administration has you (and all of the other law students) over a barrel. If they don’t make the changes you demand, what will you do? Quit law school and live with the debt of the degree but none of the benefits of it?

As a future alumni, I plan to be vocal about my concern for hiring certain orthodox faculty, and not hiring those who aren’t in line with the church. Notre Dame does take alumni seriously, because they want to keep the donations rolling in. For those outside of ND it’s hard to understand how much has changed since Obama has come, but essentially the less orthodox wing of the alumni and faculty essentially spent all of their political capital on the Obama speech, and it had significant negative financial outcome for the university. They lost 25% of their projected operating income for the next year. There has been a bit of a kerfuffle over Bishop Jenky’s remarks about Obama from the same dissenters who brought BO here. But the university hasn’t touched the topic with a 10-foot pole, and it’s unlikely that they will.

Not only that, but essentially all of that capital was deposited into the ‘orthodox’ account, and the alumni and faculty in that camp have been making steady gains ever since. We’ve made some excellent faculty hires that will push us closer to our mission as a Catholic law school The main faculty advisor for the admissions board is Professor Snead. Things are looking up here at NDLS. Of course, none of that is my doing, but it’s worth noting I think the deep commitment that the great catholic professors here at the law school have made to improving and strengthening the catholic identity of the law school.

As for what I’ve done personally, I’ve prayed for the conversion of fellow students, and talked at length on a whole host of topics. The school could definitely use your prayers. I assume that the same is true at Georgetown. Just because there don’t seem to be any signs of life there from the major stories (Fluke and now this) doesn’t mean that there aren’t any good Catholics there trying to bring that school back to its true Jesuit roots (you know the “For the Greater Glory of God” ones?).

Fr. Frank

Mr. Kennedy,

You sound like a very fine young man with high ideals. I do sincerely hope you and your confreres can be agents for change once you’re alumni. Still, hearing that you’ll attempt nothing now since you’d be left with all the debt and none of the benefits reminds me of another good young man who said, “Lord, I will follow you! But first, let me go and . . . .” I understand, but don’t you think there’ll also be good, prudent, and compelling reasons to do nothing once you’ve graduated? Life goes by so fast! One of the hardest things for me about middle age has been reflecting on the things I could have done for Christ and His Church when I was young, but talked myself out of in the name of prudence. Pray for me — and don’t wait too long to start making a stand. I’ve learned in the past several years that Jesus and Our Lady really will protect you. I promise. God bless and keep you!

Joseph

Just don’t make your position public there… wouldn’t want you to flunk out.

Jim Kennedy

Re: Joseph “If God is for us, who can stand against us?” I do well enough flunking on my own… Anecdote about NDLS: first day of law school the entire class was assembled. Professors Snead and Garnett (who some of you might know from this letter: http://www.becketfund.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/Garvey-Glendon-George-Snead-Levin-stmt-Feb-11-2012.pdf or this website: http://mirrorofjustice.blogs.com/) began 1L orientation by talking about the indefensible foundations of Roe v. Wade. Obama came on one day to talk, these profs live here, and teach day in and out. There are a lot more professors here like Snead or Garnett (they just aren’t as well-known in the broader Catholic community, as their legal work relate as directly to Catholic concerns), than there are professors like Cathleen Kaveney. Don’t give up on Notre Dame. Pray for us.

http://confederatepapist.blogspot.com/ Confederate Papist

I like your philosophy….Gen-Xers and Millenials need to get back into Catholic academia and reclaim and re-establish these institutions as they were originally intended in their founding.

As a college flunky myself, all I can do is pray and root for the good and faithful to be victorious.

Matthew

Now if we only had a no-nonsense Cardinal in DC as the legendary Cardinal in Boston once told the Sulpicians: “You have 48hrs to leave the diocese and take your dead with you.” Matthew

http://creativefidelity.wordpress.com Dan F.

Matthew, do you have a citation or some historical background for those of us (including me) who have no idea who the Sulpicians are/were and what the controversy was in Boston? I googled your quote (no hits) and the Sulpicians (all seemingly positive hits) so I’m confused.

Thanks!

Dan F.

Rich Fader

It strikes me G-Town should have been locked down at least temporarily for decontamination the day after the 1968 commencement. (Just imagine the Bill Clinton cooties.)

Steven P. Cornett

You can shut it, Notre Dame, Loyola, Xavier (both of them), and UD, throw out the heretical orders corkscrewing them into apostasy, and start over. It might be bad news for Dayton in the short term, but the souls saved will be many.

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